Iran has risen its steel production output by more than 9 percent, the World Steel Association (WSA) announced, adding that the country is now the world’s 15th steel producer.
According to the WSA’s latest report, Iran’s steel production output hit 14.463mln tons in 2012, showing a 9.6-percent growth in comparison with the year before.
Among 62 world major steel producers, Iran jumped two steps higher and became the world’s 15th steel producer in 2012, the report said. Iran ranked above UK, Spain and Canada.
Last month, Managing Director of Mobarakeh Steel Company Mohammad Massoud Sameenejad announced that Iran “is the biggest steel producer in the Middle East and North Africa”.
“The WSA has named Iran as the biggest producer of steel in the Middle East and Africa in the same period,” Sameenejad said in December.
Elaborating on his company’s share in Iran’s steel production, he said that Mobarakeh Steel Company produced 46 percent of Iran’s steel output in the 10 months of 2012.
With a production of 1.09 million tons, Iran was the world’s 16th steel producer in September. Last year, an Iranian official announced that the production of steel in Iran has grown 5 million tons in the past two years despite the illegal sanctions imposed by the West against the country.
“Despite the intensified sanctions during the last two years, the capacity of Iran’s steel production has increased 5mln tons and we will be completely self-sufficient in the steel industry in the next three years,” Vice-President of Iran’s Steel Association Hamidreza Taherizadeh said in July.

Keenness to Boost Joint Ventures With Pakistan

Iran on Tuesday expressed its keenness to do joint venture projects with Pakistan in different sectors ranging from power generation to infrastructure development.
“Iran and Pakistan are ideally located and they must exploit all means of business needed for the expansion of trade between the two countries,” said Mehdi Sobhni, Consul General of Iran in Karachi, while meeting Muhammad Zubair Motiwala, Chairman Sindh Board of Investment (SBI), at his office on Tuesday, Fars News Agency reported.
The Iranian diplomat expressed interest in the joint venture projects with Pakistan in power, energy, shrimp farming and other sectors related to infrastructure development.
Sobhani invited Pakistan to send a delegation to visit Iranian business chambers for further investment promotions.
On the occasion, Motiwala said the visit of an investment delegation to Iran was much awaited and the SBI was planning to organize it in a month time.
He said Iran and Pakistan had been involved in cross border trade through their long border since ages and it was high time that both countries further strengthen their brotherly relations to the highest peak.
The SBI chairman gave detailed briefing to the participants and informed about special incentive packages being offered by the Government of Pakistan for foreign investors.
“We have success stories of Lotte of Korea which is further expanding its business in Pakistan and UK is the biggest investor in Pakistan in various sectors which shows Pakistan is a safe destination for business investors,” he said.
Motiwala also instilled on the 175 billion tons of coal reserves in Sindh province, which has been verified by RWE of Germany. Both sides affirmed to collaborate and cooperate with each other in different sectors of economy.

Egg Production Hit 900,000 Tons

Domestic Economy Desk

Some 900,000 tons of egg were produced in Iran since the beginning of current year (March 21, 2012), said head of the Union of Poultry Breeders.
Hedayat Asghari said that the figure is expected to reach 930,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian year which shows an increase of 5 percent compared to the figure for the past year which was 870,000 tons, IRNA reported.
He added that the per capita egg consumption of the country was 10 kg in the past year adding that with respect to an increase in the egg production, the figure is expected to hit 12 kg in the current year.
He put the surplus egg production of the country at 100,000 tons annually, and said some 11,128 tons of egg were exported during Nov. 21.,2012- Jan. 19, 2013.
Secretary of National Egg Promotion Headquarters Farzad Talakesh said in October that Iran ranks 10th worldwide in terms of egg production and produces over 750,000 tons of eggs annually.
Iranians celebrate the World Egg Day annually to increase per capita egg consumption in the country.
“The headquarters was launched in cooperation with several organizations and ministries, including the Health Ministry, Agricultural Jihad Ministry, Veterinarian Organization, Education Ministry, TV Broadcasting and the Association of Egg,” Talakesh said.
He urged people to add eggs to their daily diet of Iranians, saying that Iranians are marking the World Egg Day under the slogan “An Egg a Day for Every Healthy Person”.

NF3 Project Ready for Launch

Production from NF3 unit at Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant has been underway since two weeks ago and it is waiting for official inauguration, petrochemical officials said.
Managing-Director of Petrochemical Industries Development Management Co. Javad Mahmoudian said the unit as one of Mehr-e Mandegar (Lasting Kindness) projects in the petrochemical sector, with production capacity of 100 thousand barrels of gas liquids per day, will meet Bandar Imam petrochemical plant’s needs to gas liquids, Fars News Agency reported.
Ahvaz, Maroun and Gachsaran are oil fields, which provide the feedstock for NF3 unit and the project, will meet Bandar Imam petrochemical plant’s needs to ethane, propane, butane and pentane and will be inaugurated in near future, Mahmoudian said.
“Even though primary cost of the project had been estimated at $260 million plus 650 billion rials, it was lowered to $255 million and 168 billion rials due to savings,” the official added.
He said that domestic manufacturers managed to provide more than 50 percent of parts and equipment of the project.
NF3 project is underway by Petrochemical Industries Development Management Company as the operator and Namvaran-Asphalt Tous as contractor of the project in the form of an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract.
Upon the start-up, the unit will produce 2.685 million tons of ethane, propane, butane and hexane plus and natural gasoline per year.
After launching the third natural gas liquefying (NGL) fractioning unit at Bandar Imam Petrochemcial Plant, the plant’s intake capacity of NGL will rise from 120,000 to 220,000 barrels per day.
Bandar Imam Petrochemical Plant comprises five companies named Faravaresh, Besparan, Kimia, Ab Biro and Kharazmi. The plant produces 30 petrochemical and chemical products and plays an important role in production and export of petrochemicals.

62.86bcm Natural Gas Extracted

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Iran is currently producing 300 mcmpd of gas from South Pars.
Earlier this week, oil minister announced that two phases of the South Pars gas field will come online by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (on March 20, 2013).
Phases 15 and 16 of South Pars oil and gas field will be operational by the end of current year, Rostam Qassemi said on Wednesday.
He told reporters that executive works for phases 17 and 18 of South Pars gas field are well on right track and they will come on stream in the next Iranian year on schedule.
The South Pars gas field covers an area of 9,700 square kilometers, 3,700 square kilometers of which are in Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf. The remaining 6,000 square kilometers, the North Dome, are in Qatar’s territorial waters.
The South Pars gas field holds 8 percent of total gas reserves of the world and half of the country’s proven gas reserves. It is also the host of the most important industrial complexes of the country and the most important part of oil industry’s value chain.

Furniture Exhibition Underway

Domestic Economy Desk

Some $12 million worth of furniture were exported during the nine months of current Iranian year, said head of the Association of Tehran’s Producing and Technical Services Company.
Speaking on the sidelines of the First Furniture and Decoration Exhibition and Sale, Ali Fazeli said that about $20 million worth of furniture were exported during the past year, Mehr News Agency reported.
He said presently 60 percent of raw materials of furniture industry, 20 percent of total furniture and 50 percent of machineries are imported.
The First Furniture and Decoration Exhibition and Sale, attended by 110 companies, is being held in Tehran’s Grand Fair Ground from Jan 23-29.
Various classic furniture, wall paper, flooring and carpet tableaus and kitchen cabinets are on display in the exhibition.
Iran has set a target of $1 billion from furniture exports over the next three to five years, said Trade Promotion Organization’s Deputy Director Kiyoumars Fathollah Kermanshahi
He said that the issue of gaining a 1 percent share in the global furniture trade is being seriously pursued.
Kermanshahi put the current value of global furniture trade at around $270 billion. “Unfortunately, Iran exported just $12 million worth of furniture last year, which was a meager figure compared with the global trade turnover,” he said.

3-D Operation at Forouz B Gasfield Over

Managing Director of MAPNA Company Abbas Aliabadi announced that his company has completed three-dimensional seismic operations at Forouz B gas field.
Aliabadi told the Oil Ministry’s website that the next move was delivery of land for setting up surface and processing facilities adding that it would be followed by preparing master development plan (MDP) of the project.
Referring to talks held with drilling companies, Aliabadi said drilling exploratory and developmental wells is a requirement for development of the gas field that will be carried out next year.
Located in vicinity of Siri, Qeshm and Kish islands in Persian Gulf, the gas produced in Forouz B gas field will be transferred to Qeshm Island to be processed for generating electricity in the island which is going to be transformed into an energy hub in near future.
Development contract of Forouz B gas field was signed last year with the aim of production of gaseous products and generating power between MAPNA Company and Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC).
In place gas reserves of the field is estimated at 28 trillion cubic feet and its gas condensate at 180 million barrels.

Export to Egypt Up 1,300%

Domestic Economy Desk

Iraq, China, UAE, Afghanistan and India are the five top large markets for the commodities exported from Iran during the nine months of current Iranian year (March 20, 2012-Nov. 20, 2012).
Based on the report released by ISNA the highest growth of Iran’s non-oil exports which is 1,300 percent, pertains to Egypt while highest drop which is 91 percent pertain to Japan and Singapore.
Turkey, South Korea, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Azerbaijan were the five other large destinations for Iran’s exports, ISNA reported.
During the period, some $323 million of goods were exported to Russia which was the biggest target market for Iran’s exports in Europe.
About 50 percent of total commodities exported from Iran where shipped to Iraq, China and UAE.
Exports to Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Oman, Spain, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Myanmar, South Africa, Kenya, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Brazil increased significantly during the period.
The volume of goods exported to Indonesia, Taiwan, Syria, Philippine, Netherlands, Malaysia, France, Belgium and Sudan dropped during the period.

MoU With UNIDO

To provide comprehensive education of information technology to industrial units, Industries, Mines and Trade Ministry signed an MoU with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on Tuesday.